Bond disarmed by IPN advisory board's firepower

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Of the extensive biographies in the member's booklet of
Independent News & Media's international advisory board, there
is only a single line for its newest member, Sir Sean Connery.

It reads: "My name is Bond - James Bond."

The 17 board members have limited financial relationships with
the companies in which Sir Tony O'Reilly has an interest, such as
Independent News & Media, which has a turnover of €1.6
billion ($2.5 billion), or Waterford Wedgewood, the luxury gift
brand of which he is the majority shareholder.

The international advisory group is, as O'Reilly says, "mainly a
sounding board".

"It provides an opportunity for a range of people with disparate
backgrounds to give their views on issues which we consider
important, such as the jailing of New York Times journalist
Judith Miller for not revealing her sources.

"There are some of us who believe her case is further evidence
the first amendment has been impugned by the US legal system,"
O'Reilly says.

"Our debate is always in catholic terms - not in the religious
sense.

"For example, the board chairman, Ben Bradlee, who was executive
editor of The Washington Post when his reporters broke the
Watergate story, offers the 'Deep Throat' view of a journalist's
obligations and responsibilities.

"The right honourable Brian Mulroney, a former prime minister of
Canada, has a view from the Canadian side.

"Kenneth Clarke, MP, a former chancellor of the exchequer and
possibly the next leader of the Conservative Party in the UK,
offers a profound European view.

"Eric Molobi (who serves on the boards of a number of South
African companies) was a cellmate with Nelson Mandela and sees it
through the eyes of an evolving South African society and black
empowerment."

Asked the contribution of Connery, O'Reilly gives the impression
007 has been intimidated by the intellectualism of the debate. "He
made the comment that he has no formal education, being a graduate
of the University of Life," O'Reilly says.

It seems there was a pained silence when Connery announced he
shared something with British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

"We were both at school together in Edinburgh," the veteran
actor told the board.

Aware such luminaries would know Blair went to Fettes, an
expensive Scottish school, Connery waited for the embarrassed,
incredulous gathering to gaze carpetwards, before announcing: "I
was the milkman."

Asked what contribution Australia's representative, Ted Harris,
made on the Miller issue, O'Reilly, who played rugby for Ireland 29
times and holds try-scoring records on the British Lions'
triumphant tours of South Africa in 1955 and Australia in 1959,
sidesteps the question.

After all, O'Reilly is a passionate advocate of editorial
independence, and Harris counts his success in terms of the number
of times his name does not appear in newspapers.

But O'Reilly is cleary impressed by Harris's view of Australia's
place in the world. "He delivered a very passionate speech about
Sydney and Australia," he said.

Harris, now in his 47th year of public company directorships,
appears ageless, prompting O'Reilly to say: "It may well be why he
beats us at tennis."

Other members of the board include Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu, who
recently attended the G8 summit as the economic adviser to the
President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeke; David Dinkins, a former
mayor of New York City; Professor Gert Gerwel, the former secretary
of the Nelson Mandela cabinet; Baroness Margaret Jay of Paddington,
a former minister of health in the Blair cabinet and daughter of
the late Jim Callaghan, a former British prime minister; Lord Rogan
of Lower Iveagh; Sir Wilson Whineray, a former All Black captain
and bank chairman; and Andrew Young, a former US ambassador to the
UN, aide to Martin Luther King and influential in Atlanta winning
the 1996 Olympics.

Taking a shot at his odious Canadian rival, O'Reilly says, "It's
not a Conrad Black board which is assembled for tropheyism. "This
group has been assembled to debate," he says.

"We are one of the most apolitical groups in the world and it
was formed so the infusion of collective wisdom would help the
growth of our newspapers, particularly in South Africa."

Bradlee vouches for this, saying: "I think I was appointed to
energise and discipline South African journalism."

"They need black editors and my role was to ensure they came
with the right skills."